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Archaeological Museum
An excavation of the Voskresensky Bridge - which used to cross the Neglinnaya River and commence the road to Tver - uncovered coins, clothing and other artefacts from old Moscow. The museum displaying these treasures is situated in an underground pavilion 7m deep that remains from the excavation itself. The entrance is at the base of the once and future Hotel Moskva.
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Armoury
The Armoury dates back to 1511, when it was founded under Vasily III to manufacture and store weapons, imperial arms and regalia for the royal court. Later it also produced jewellery, icon frames and embroidery.
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Bakhrushin Theatre Museum
Russia's foremost stage museum, founded in 1894, is in the Neo-Gothic mansion on the north side of Paveletskaya ploshchad. The museum exhibits all things theatrical - stage sets, costumes, scripts and personal items belonging to some of Russia's stage greats. They are not limited only to drama, but also trace the development of opera, ballet and puppetry.
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Borodino Panorama
Following a vicious but inconclusive battle at Borodino in August 1812, Moscow's defenders retreated along what are now Kutuzovsky prospekt and ulitsa Arbat, pursued by Napoleon's Grand Army.
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Central Lenin Museum
The former Central Lenin Museum was once the big daddy of all the Lenin museums, but was closed in 1993 after the White House shoot-out. It is sometimes used for special exhibits, but more often, communist rabblerousers congregate here.
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Central Museum Of Armed Forces
Covering the history of the Soviet and Russian military since 1917, this massive museum occupies 24 exhibit halls, plus open-air exhibits. Over 800,000 military items include uniforms, medals and weapons. Among the highlights are remainders of the American U2 spy plane (brought down in the Urals in 1960) and the victory flag raised over Reichstag in 1945. Take trolleybus No 69 (or walk) 1.25km west from the Novoslobodskaya metro.
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Chekhov House-Museum
`The colour of the house is liberal, ie, red,' Chekhov wrote of his house on the Garden Ring, where he lived from 1886 to 1890. Appropriately, the house now contains the Chekhov House-Museum, with bedrooms, drawing room and study intact. The overall impression is one of a peaceful and cultured family life.
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Contemporary History Museum
Formerly known as the Revolution Museum, this retro exhibit provides an account of Soviet history from the 1905 and 1917 revolutions up to the 1980s. The highlight is the extensive collection of propaganda posters, in addition to all the Bolshevik paraphernalia. Look for the picture of the giant Palace of Soviets (Dvorets Sovietov) that Stalin was going to build on the site of the blown-up - and now rebuilt - Cathedral of Christ the Saviour.
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Cosmonautics Museum
The soaring 100m titanium obelisk outside of the All-Russia Exhibition Centre is a monument `To the Conquerors of Space', built in 1964 to commemorate the launch of Sputnik. In its base is the Memorial Museum of Cosmonauts, a high-concept series of displays from the glory days of the Soviet space program. Exhibits rely heavily on cool space paraphernalia - Yuri Gagarin's space suit, the first Soviet rocket engine, and lots of charts and diagrams of various expeditions.
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Diamond Fund Exhibition
If the Armoury hasn't sated your diamond lust, there are more in the separate Diamond Fund Exhibition in the same building. The collection, mainly of precious stones and jewellery garnered by tsars and empresses, includes such weighty beasts as the 190-carat diamond given to Catherine the Great by her lover Grigory Orlov. The displays of unmounted diamonds are stunning, revealing the real beauty of the gems.
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Dostoevsky House-Museum
While this renowned Russian author is more closely associated with St Petersburg, Fyodor Dostoevsky was actually born in Moscow, where his family lived in a tiny apartment on the grounds of Marinsky Hospital. He lived here until the age of 16, when he went to St Pete to enter a military academy. The family's Moscow flat has been re-created according to Dostoevsky's own descriptions and journals from his childhood.
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Glazunov Gallery
The elaborate empire-style mansion opposite the Pushkin Fine Arts Museum houses a new gallery dedicated to the work of Soviet and post-Soviet artist Ilya Glazunov. Apparently this gallery was a long time in coming, due primarily to the artist's own insistence on moulded ceilings, marble staircases and crystal chandeliers. But now it is open and the interior is impressive: three floors filled with fanciful illustrations of historic events and biblical scenes.
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Glinka Museum of Musical Culture
Musicologists will be amazed by this massive collection of musical instruments from all over the world. The museum boasts over 3000 instruments - handcrafted works of art - featuring cultures from the Caucasus to Mongolia to the Far East. Recordings accompany many of the most rare instruments, allowing visitors to experience what they actually sound like.
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Gogol Memorial Rooms
The 19th-century writer Nikolai Gogol spent his last, tortured months here. The rooms - now a small but captivating museum - are arranged as they were when Gogol lived here. You can even see the fireplace where he infamously threw his manuscript of Dead Souls . An additional `reading room' contains a library of Gogol's work and other reference materials about the author.
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Gorky House-Museum
This fascinating 1906 Art Nouveau mansion was designed by Fyodor Shekhtel and gifted to Gorky in 1931. The house is a visual fantasy with sculpted doorways, ceiling murals, stained glass, a carved stone staircase, and exterior tile work. Besides the fantastic decor, it contains many of Gorky's personal items, including his extensive library. A small room in the cupola houses random, rotating exhibits of contemporary or quixotic art.
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Ivan The Great Bell Tower
With its two golden domes rising above the eastern side of Sobornaya ploshchad, the Ivan the Great Bell Tower is the Kremlin's tallest structure - a landmark visible from 30km away. Before the 20th century it was forbidden to build any higher in Moscow.
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KGB Museum
This four-room museum is devoted to the history, propaganda and paraphernalia of the Soviet intelligence services. The museum is not open to casual callers but Dom Patriarshy occasionally takes groups there. Security is super tight: an FSB agent leads a small group, room by room, recounting Cold War era espionage anecdotes.
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Lermontov House-Museum
`Till I live I swear, dear friends, not to cease to love Moscow.' So wrote the 19th-century poet Mikhail Lermontov about his hometown. The celebrated author of A Hero of Our Time lived in this little pink house on a small lane off Novy Arbat ulitsa. Here, he was raised by his grandmother; and here he wrote poetry and prose in the primitive office in the attic. Today, the cosy bungalow evokes the family's everyday life, displaying the poet's books and artwork and other hobbies.
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Manezh Central Exhibition Hall
The former Manezh Central Exhibition Hall, the long, low building on the southern side of Red Sq, was home to some of Moscow's most popular art exhibitions until it was burnt to a shell in a mysterious fire in 2003.
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Matrioshka Museum
On a quiet side street, the Matrioshka Museum - formerly the Museum of Folk Art - is a two-room museum showcasing designer matrioshka dolls and different painting techniques. The centrepiece is a one-metre high matrioshka with 50 dolls inside. The exhibit demonstrates the history of this favourite Russian souvenir. Don't come looking for modern-day pop-culture inspired dolls, as the museum takes a traditionalist tact.
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Mayakovsky Museum
The startling post-modern entrance on this prerevolutionary mansion is appropriate for a museum dedicated to the revolutionary, futurist poet Vladimir Mayakovsky. The building is actually where Mayakovsky lived in a communal apartment during the last years of his life. The room where he worked - and shot himself in 1930 - has been preserved.
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Memorial Synagogue At Poklonnaya Hill
This synagogue opened in 1998 as a part of the memorial complex on at Victory Park. It is - at once - a memorial to Holocaust victims and a museum of the Russian Jewry. Admission is with a guide only, so you must make arrangements in advance, especially if you want a tour in English. Otherwise, you can join an existing group.
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Moscow City History Museum
This elaborate Russian Empire-style building dates from 1825. Formerly the John the Baptist Church, it now houses a small history museum, demonstrating how the city has spread from its starting point at the Kremlin. Exhibits are heavy on artefacts from the 13th and 14th centuries, especially household items and weapons and other representations of medieval Moscow.
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Moscow House Of Photography
In addition to the exciting and innovative photography exhibits that are held on site, this gallery also organises the annual International Photography Festival, usually held in conjunction with a foreign partner. The result is widely acclaimed, cutting edge contemporary photography, exhibited at venues around the city. Exhibits have also featured exhibits from the archives of some prominent photographers from the Soviet period.
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Moscow Museum Of Modern Art
A pet-project of the ubiquitous Zurab Tsereteli, this newish museum is housed in a classical 18th-century merchant's home, which was originally designed by Matvei Kazanov (architect of the Arsenal in the Kremlin, among others). It is a perfect, light-filled setting for an impressive collection of 20th-century paintings, sculptures and graphics, including Russian and foreign artists.
